Midterm 1 Flashcards
Society of Experts
The theory that different parts of the brain each have different specialized capabilities that come together to form our overall perceptual experience.
Coincidence Detectors
Term used to describe the fact that random activity cannot activate a neuron and that all the inputs need to come into a given neuron within about a msec for any action to occur. This acts to filter out random noise in the brain.
Local cortical neurons tend to belong to this type.
Inhibitory
Long-range neurons tend to be of this type.
Excitatory
Equipotentiality
The incorrect theory that the brain is one diffuse organ that works all at once so individual parts of the brain do not have individual capabilities.
- Based on experiments with rats that showed that what parts of a brain that were removed didn’t affect performance (maze tasks), just the volume
- These findings could be because different functions were causing different deficits but sum total it generally hurt the ability of the rat to run the maze
Module
A term for a group of neurons/section of the brain that works together to perform one function.
Christopher Cherniak
Scientist who performed the component placement analysis of c. Elegans to determine if it’s arrangement was actually the most efficient arrangement possible.
Ganglia
Structures containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses.
How are the ganglia in c. Elegans arranged which makes it such a good model organism for the component placement analysis?
Linearly
NP (non-polynomial) problems
The traveling salesman and determining the efficiency of the nervous system are examples of this type of problem.
What seems to be the limiting factor in component optimization of the mammalian cortex?
Spatial contiguity
Corpus Callosum is evidence of what?
Acts as counter evidence for the argument that the mammalian brain is spatially optimized.
- Birds don’t have this structure because it would make their brain too heavy for them to fly
Robust statistics
Mechanism by which we average all the images that we have seen in order to determine what the most likely continuation of a line is so that no matter what experiences each individual has, we all generally see the world the same way.
Radial Unit Model
Model for cortical development that shows that neurons are born from the ventricular zone and crawl up the glia where the earliest neurons drop at the bottom of cortical columns so that the newest neurons end up at the top of the cortex and the deepest layers consist of the oldest neurons.
Ventricular Zone
Where neurons are born before they migrate up the glia according to the radial unit model.
Pruning decreases the volume of what type of brain tissue?
Grey matter
Broadbent
Scientist who created the first behavioral model that is very similar to what we use today.
Central Executive
Biggest addition we have made to Broadbent’s behavioral model since its conception, which is what decides what the filter will attend to.
Episodic Memory
Type of memory associated with ego where a person remembers themself doing something and they are the center of the memory.
Semantic Memory
Memories in which the subject has the facts but can’t remember learning/doing it, so they have access to the knowledge but can’t remember details of when/how it was learned.
Ex: You can’t remember when you learned that 2+2 = 4, but you know it to be true.
Procedural Memory
Memory associated with actions that often don’t have a conscious component to them.
Aggregate Field Theory
The notion that the whole brain participates in behavior– equipotentiality.
Cytoarchitectonics
The study of how cells differ between brain regions.
Brodmann
Scientist who pioneered cytoarchitectonics.
Neuron doctrine
The concept that the nervous system is made up of individual cells.
Associatism
The theory that the aggregate of a person’s experience determines the course of mental development.
Behaviorism
The idea that the brain is a blank slate that can be molded to respond in a certain way. (Little Albert experiment of Watson show this)
Spines
Little knobs attached by small necks to the surface of dendrites where the dendrites receive inputs from other neurons.
Axon collaterals
Branched axons that can transmit signals to more than one cell.
Corticocortical Connections
Connections from the cortex to the cortex (first part = source, second part = target)
Neural circuits
Groups of interconnected neurons that process specific kinds of information.
Neural systems
Combinations of neural circuits.
Autonomic Nervous System
The NS involved in controlling the involuntary action of smooth muscles, the heart and various glands.
Sympathetic Nervous System
Division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for fight or flight responses.
Parasympathetic Nervous System
Division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for rest and digest responses.
Commisures
Axons tracts that cross over into another layer.
Foramen
Openings in the vertebral column where spinal nerves pass in and out of the spinal cord.
Ventral Horn
Part of the spinal cord that contains large motor neurons that project to muscles.
Dorsal Horn
Part of the spinal cord that contains sensory neurons and interneurons.
Medulla
Part of the hindbrain responsible for motor innervations to the face, neck, abdomen and throat (motor nuclei that innervate the heart too)
Pons
Part of the hindbrain that acts as the main connection between the brain and cerebellum. Also generates REM sleep.
Betz’s Cells
Large neurons that can be up to several feet long and run down the spinal cord.
Neurulation
The process by which ectodermal cells on the dorsal surface of the blastocell form the neural plate.
Synaptogenesis
The formation of new synapses and growth of dendrite trees throughout development. This process follows the pattern of neurogenesis with the inner layers developing first.
Syanpse Elimination
The process that follows synaptogenesis to get rid of redundant and unused connections and continues for more than a decade.
